An electronic cigarette is a product developed as an alternative to smoking tobacco, such as a cigarette, a cigar, or pipe tobacco, and has a shape similar to that of typical smoking tobacco. When smoking the electronic cigarette, a solution contained inside the electronic cigarette is vaporized by heating, ultrasonic vibration, or the like, and is discharged outward as smoke.
Smoking tobacco contains a number of harmful components, such as tar, nitroamine, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide, which not only damage the health of a smoker, but also cause damage to the health of other people around the smoker due to passive smoking. In addition, smoke from smoking tobacco has a peculiar smell, which causes the smoker or other people around the smoker to smell unpleasant. Accordingly, over the world, places where smoking is allowed are limited according to administrative regulations, and a variety of non-smoking promotion policies are being enforced.
However, in practice, smokers cannot easily quit smoking because they are addicted to nicotine contained in tobacco. In addition, non-smoking products or tobacco substitutes fail to satisfy the desires of smokers. Therefore, an electronic cigarette was developed, which can advantageously satisfy a desire to smoke since it generates smoke by vaporizing a solution that contains nicotine or the like. In addition, unlike typical smoking tobacco, the electronic cigarette does not discharge harmful matter such as tar and does not produce an unpleasant smell.
However, in spite of a variety of advantages of the electronic cigarette, there are some problems. For instance, a cartridge of the electronic cigarette which is held in the mouth during smoking is constantly exposed to the outside and is thus easily contaminated by impurities such as dust. In particular, when the electronic cigarette is being used, saliva from the smoker sticks to the cartridge. This causes harmful bacilli to easily propagate in the cartridge, thereby putting the health of the user of the electronic cigarette at risk, and causes unpleasant sensation. In addition, when inhaling the electronic cigarette, a liquid solution that has not been sufficiently vaporized may also be discharged and enter the mouth of the smoker, causing an unpleasant taste for the smoker, which is problematic.
Therefore, there is an increasing necessity for an electronic cigarette in which the cartridge which is held in the mouth can stay clean while the advantages of the electronic cigarette can be guaranteed.